Keep Holding On
by twilightprincess219
Summary: Kaori Tanaka was training to be the number one kunoichi in the Leaf Village. What happens when her training involves her life and the lives of the people she love being in grave danger? OCxSasuke Rated T just in case.


**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to get out. I was gonna wait until I had some more chapters written, but I decided to wait to see if you all liked this or not. So here it is! Well, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters, just Kaori and Kazuki.**

**

* * *

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE-

The alarm clock was thrown across the room as I groaned sleepily and rolled over onto my back opening my eyes. You would think I'd be more excited, since yesterday I had graduated from the ninja academy and finally become a kunoichi-a female ninja. And well, I was excited. I just really hated waking up in the mornings, especially when the sun was still rising.

I sighed sitting up and rubbing my eyes. _Well, guess its time to get ready…._

I got up, and went into the bathroom, stripping my clothes and getting in the shower. As the hot water ran over me, I began to start to wake up and become more alert. That's when I finally realized what today was. Today was when I would start my journey to becoming a great ninja, like my ancestors. That also meant I'd get my team that I'd work with for almost the rest of the time I'm a ninja.

I didn't really have a problem with anyone in my class, aside from most of the girls. A lot of them were really annoying, especially because they constantly flirted with my best friend, who, should I say, never seems interested in any of them. And of course because they're all obsessed with him, they hate me because I hang out with him all the time, and I'm about the only girl he ever talks to. Fortunately for them, we're just friends, nothing more. I mean sure, he was really cool, and I guess he's kind of good-looking, but we're practically like family to each other. Nothing would ever change about that.

After finishing my shower, I got out and wrapped the towel around me, before walking over to the mirror and staring at my reflection. My dark blue eyes stared back at me, a twinkle of excitement in them. Now that I was awake, I was fully aware of how awesome today would be. I smiled happily before starting to get ready for the day.

When I finished drying my lavender colored, shoulder length hair, I got dressed into my normal ninja attire. I pulled on my black shorts, before pulling my short white skirt with two slits up the sides over top of it. Then I put on my light blue tank top, before wrapping my new leaf village headband around my waist.

I completed the outfit by wrapping white bandage around my left leg, and attaching my kunai holster to it. I smiled at myself in the mirror, before running downstairs, ready to start my day.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I sniffed, smelling something good coming from the kitchen.

"Morning Kazuki!" I said happily, walking into the decent sized kitchen.

"Good morning Kaori." A young man said, smiling at me from the stove.

This young man just happened to be my older brother. People say we look a lot alike, but I think its only because of our hair and eye color. Only his hair is longer than mine, and he kept it in a ponytail most of the time. Kazuki is 5 years older than me, and he's an ANBU, which is almost the highest ninja rank in the village. He became a member of the ANBU black ops when he was 13 years old, and because of that I always looked up to him. I always hoped to be able to do that too, but seeing as how I was already 12, and I just became a genin, I didn't think that was going to happen.

Our father had died in the battle with the nine-tailed fox 12 years ago, so I didn't remember anything about him. Our mother took care of us, until she became really sick when I was 5. She had died, leaving Kazuki and me alone.

My brother had taken care of me by himself, refusing help from the others in the village. He said he didn't need any help from anyone, and that we'd be just fine on our own. And he was right. Kazuki had taken very good care of me these past 7 years.

I had actually met my best friend because of him, since Kazuki was on the same team as my friend's brother. They had been pretty good friends too, so they hung out a lot, which allowed me and my friend to hang out too.

But then everything changed 5 years ago, when the whole Uchiha clan was murdered. There was only one survivor, and that just happened to be Sasuke Uchiha, my best friend. I was glad when I found out he was still alive. But when I found out who killed everyone, my happiness faded. It had been Itachi, Sasuke's older brother and Kazuki's teammate.

Sasuke still felt upset about it after all these years, and he had sworn to get revenge for his family. I had tried talking to him, telling him that revenge wasn't the answer, but he wouldn't listen, no matter what I said. So I finally gave up, and decided if that's what he wanted to do, then I'd let him.

Kazuki was almost the same. He had wanted to go after Itachi when he found out he had left the village, but the Hokage wouldn't let him. He said my brother wasn't thinking straight because he was upset, and he just needed to calm down. Kazuki had finally calmed himself, and now he didn't even think about it anymore. Or at least I didn't think he did. He never acted like it bothered him anymore, so I didn't say anything about it.

"You hungry?" Kazuki asked, placing an omelet on a plate and sliding it towards me.

I shook my head smiling. "No thanks."

"You know, you really should start eating more breakfast." He said, taking the plate and sitting at the table.

I followed him, sitting across from him. "It's not my fault if I'm not hungry."

"Yeah, yeah." Kazuki said smiling, before starting to eat. "So, are you excited about getting your team today?"

"Duh! Of course I am!" I said excitedly. "I can't wait! I really hope Sasuke's on my team. I mean, we've trained together a lot so we know each others moves pretty well. We'd be good teammates."

Kazuki looked thoughtful for a second while he chewed and swallowed. "I guess that's true. The teams get grouped on skill level though, to balance out the squads. So you may not get that lucky."

"Well I can always hope." I shrugged. "So you got any missions today?"

"Yep. I'm headed out as soon as I finish up here."

"What kind of mission is it?" I asked.

Kazuki smirked. "A top secret one."

I stuck my tongue out at him, as he laughed. I asked him all the time what his missions were, but I always got the same answer. I didn't think they were all top secret ANBU missions, I think he just told me that to annoy me.

We sat in silence the rest of the time, while I waited for him to finish. Finally he took the last bite of his omelet and got up, dumping his plate in the sink. I followed him to the door, where we both slipped on our ninja sandals, and Kazuki put his ANBU mask on. It looked like a dog's face, with a red line on each cheek, and one on his forehead.

"Do you want me to walk you to the academy?" he asked once we got outside.

"No, I can go by myself. Good luck on your mission!" I said smiling.

He nodded once, said "Good luck with your new team.", and jumped off.

I watched where he disappeared before smiling and walking off towards the academy, ready to start my journey to becoming the best kunoichi ever!

* * *

I walked down the street, trying to think about all the pros and cons of having different people on my team. With the boys, there weren't really a lot of cons, but with the girls, there were tons. A lot of the girls in my class weren't really that strong. Most of them were your average shinobi, with average skills in knowledge and strength. There were a few exceptions of course, one of them being Sakura Haruno. She was pretty weak when it came to actual fighting, but she was probably the smartest one in the class. I was the other exception. I wouldn't say I was stupid or anything, but testing definitely wasn't one of my stronger points. I was, however, very skilled when it came down to actual fighting strength. I was pretty much tied with Sasuke for the top of our class in that sense.

When I came out of my thoughts, I noticed someone walking a little ahead of me. He had black hair, and was wearing a pair of white shorts, and a blue t-shirt with a symbol of a fan on the back.

"Sasuke!" I called smiling. The boy stopped and turned, as I ran up to him.

"Oh, hey Kaori." He said nodding as we both continued walking.

"So are you excited to finally graduate from the academy?" I asked smiling.

"…..Itachi was already graduated by the time he was our age."

I stared at him before looking away. Of course he had to bring him up when talking about strength. "Yes, but you're not Itachi, Sasuke."

Sasuke was quiet for a few minutes. "No. I'm not. I would never kill my own family."

I sighed, wanting to not think about this anymore. So I decided to change the subject. "So who do you want to be on your team?"

"Team?" he asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Oh, you don't know do you?" I asked, as Sasuke continued to stare at me. That's when I remembered most academy students didn't know you got grouped into teams when you graduated. I knew because my brother is a member of the ANBU black ops, and he told me all about it. "When we graduate, they put us into groups of three, and we stay with them for almost the rest of our time as ninja."

Sasuke gave me an annoyed look before looking ahead of us. "Great….groups of three….that'll just slow me down."

I sighed smiling, before following him into the academy. I hoped I'd get to be on Sasuke's team, and I didn't really care who else, as long as they weren't too annoying. I guess I'd just have to wait and hope for the best.

* * *

**A/N: 'Kay well that's it for the first chapter! Please let me know what you think you guys! If you like this so far, I'll continue with it, but if not then I'm not going to bother with writing it anymore. So please review and let me know what you think!**


End file.
